Prosecutors: Son accused of stabbing mom to death says Satan did it

In 2011 case, man claimed 'I'm God' while punching neighbor

A man claiming to be possessed by Satan stabbed his 84-year-old mother to death in the home they shared on Chicago’s Northwest Side, prosecutors said today.

Joseph Nerone, 54, was splattered with blood when he was arrested Friday. He was later charged with the murder of his mother, Elaine Nerone, prosecutors said.

On Sunday, Nerone’s attorney from the public defender’s office said he has mental health problems, and Cook County Judge James Brown ordered him sent initially to the jail’s hospital for a psychological examination. Brown ordered that Nerone be held without bail.

Assistant State’s Attorney Terry Clancy said this was not the first time Nerone has attributed alleged violent behavior to a spiritual being.

He was convicted of battery in April 2011 after punching and scratching a neighbor while declaring, “I’m God, and it’s your time,” prosecutors said. He was declared unfit for trial and then ruled fit before he was sentenced to 18 months of court supervision contingent on good behavior, according to court records and prosecutors.

His mother’s body was discovered in the home in the Dunning neighborhood Friday morning after a woman called police to say she couldn’t contact Nerone to pick him up for a meeting with his probation officer, Clancy said. Emergency crews arrived and entered to find Elaine Nerone on the bathroom floor, dead of multiple stab wounds to the head and back, Clancy said.

Her son was bloody and marked by scrapes and cuts consistent with a struggle, prosecutors said, and police found several bloody knives in the home in the 3800 block of North Normandy Avenue.

Under questioning by detectives, Nerone said Satan had killed his mother and that the devil was inside him, Clancy said.

In court Sunday, Nerone wore a hospital-style gown over black dress pants. As he shuffled wearily out of court, he fiddled with the button on his pants, fastening and then undoing the button over and over.An autopsy Saturday determined that Elaine Nerone died of multiple stab wounds and multiple blunt force trauma, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Her death was ruled a homicide.